Flash-light apparatus.



No. 689,048.1" Patented Dec. I7, IBQI.

Y A. HEMSLEY.

` FLASH LIGHT APPARATUS.

[Application lad Mar. 19, 1901.)

Ersns w, Puo-fummo.. WASHINGTON u c arnnr rricn.

ALEXANDER HEMSLEY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

FLASH-LIGHT APPARATUS.

SPEGIFGATIUN forming part Of Letters :Patent N0. 689,048, dated December 17, 1901.

Application letl March 19, 1901I Serial No. 51,856. (No model.)

fo all whom t Alit/,ty concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER HEMsLnY, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flash-Light Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has relation to an apparatus for igniting {iashdight powder, and in such connection it relates to the arrangement and construction of such an apparatus.

The main requirements desired in liash light apparatus are that the flash-light powder be ignited at the required instant and that premature explosion or accidental ignition shall be impossible. To provide such an apparatus is the principal object ot my present invention.

To attain this object, the invention conssts, rst, in an electric4 igniter for the powder, comprising two terminals for a battery or other circuit, which terminals are adapted to be bridged by a wire, which when the current is on is adapted to be heated to redness; second, in locating this igniter adjacent to the receptacle or well in which the powder is placed, but at a sufficient distance therefrom to prevent accidental ignition, and in providing means for propelling the powder toward and into contact with the wire to secure the ignition of the powder, and, third, in providing other details of construction and arrangement, which will be hereinafter more fully described, and embodied in the claims.

The nature and scope of my invention will be more fully understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof, in which- Figure 1 is a top or plan view of a flashlight apparatus embodying main features of my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the same with the air-forcing bulb and tube removed, and Fig. 3 is an underneath plan view of Fig. 2 with the lower or base plate removed.

Referring to the drawings, ct b represent the framework of the apparatus, consisting of two blocks or plates, in the upper of which, a, is formed a cavity or well d for the reception of the powder. Above this well d project two metallic arms e, each attached at one end to the plate or block a and each transversely slitted, as at e', to removably retain a wire f, which bridges the two arms e. These arms e are the two terminals of a battery or other electric circuit, and the wire f, which bridges these arms e, serves as the sole means of completing the circuit and is therefore, if

of small cross-sectional area, adapted to be heated to redness by the passage ot a current of sufficient amperage through the arms e. Into the well or cavity CZ is adapted to project a bent tube g, forming a continuation of aflexible tubeh, connected with a bulb h or other suitable air-forcing means. From this description it will readily be understood that if the bulb h is compressed and there is powder in the well or cavity d said powder will be dispersed and projected in all directions from the well CZ and some of its particles will impinge upon the wire f. lf this wire is heated by the electric current to a sufiicient temperature, the entire charge of powder will be exploded or ignited when the particles impinge upon the wire f. To secure a current of sufficient strength passing through the arms e and Wire f, it is preferable not to make a direct connection between the terminals of the circuit and the arms e, but to interpose between one of the arms and the terminal to which it is to be connected a series of resistances or a rheostat arrangement. A preferred form of such a rheostat is shown in the drawings in Figs. 2 and 3. It is arranged las follows: In the lower plate b is formed a transverse recess h, in which the sections l, 2, and 3 of the rheostat-coils may be snugly fitted. Upon the plate or block c is secured a series of contact-plates 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, each constituting a socket to receive a plug p or 19', as illustrated in Fig. 2. The first plate 5 is connected directly by wire r to one arm e and it receives and permanentlyretains a plug p, which forms one terminal of the battery B. The last plate 9 is connected directly to the other arm e by wire fr and receives the plug p', constituting the other terminal of the battery B. When therefore the plugs are in the plates 5 and 9, the terminals are connected directly to the arms e, and hence a relatively strong current is fed to said arms and to the wiref, bridging the same. The plates 6 and 7 are connected together by the rlieostat or resistance coil or section l, the plates 7 and 8 are connected by coil 2, and the plates 8 and 9 by the coil 3. When now the plug p' is removed from the plate 9 to the plate (5, for instance, the current must traverse the sections l, 2, and 3 before it passes by wire r to the second arm e. Hence the amperage is cut down an amount measured by the resistance of the sections l, 2, and 3. If the plug p rests in the plate 7, but two resistancesections 2 and 3 are included in the circuit, and if it rests in the plate 8 only one resistance-section 3 will be included in the circuit. The lower plate b is hollowed or recessed, as at d', below the well d, formed in the plate a, and into the hollow d' the discharge end of the tube g projects in order that a more thorough diffusion or expulsion of the powder in the well d may take place when the air forced through the tube g strikes the hollow d'. Instead of a metallic wire f bridging the arms e any thin strip forming a suitable resistance to the passage of the current may be insertedl between the arms, provided the stri p becomes incandescent, or substantially so, when the current Hows from arm toarin through the strip. y

Having thus described the nature and object of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a flash-light apparatus, an igniter for t-he powder, comprising two arms forming the terminals of an electric circuit, a resistancestrip bridging the terminals and adapted to be heated by the passage of the current, a powder-receptacle located below and out of igniting contact with said resistance-strip,

of an electric circuit,'and a resistance-strip bridging the terminals and adapted to be heated to a temperature necessary to explode the powder when the current passes through the arms, said strip arranged above the well and in the path of the expelled powder, substantially as and for lthe purposes described.

3. In a Hash-light apparatus, an igniter for the powder comprising two arms forming the terminals of an electric circuit, the free endsof said arms being slitted, a resistance-wire adapted to be removably inserted in the slits of the arms to bridge the same, a powder-receptacle located below and out of igniting contact with'said wire, and means for forcing said powder upward from said receptacle into igniting contact with said wire, substantially as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALEXANDER IIEMSLEY.

Witnesses:

J. WALTER DoUGLAss, THOMAS M. SMITH. 

